Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state
visit to the Latin American country, Chile, Ecuardor and Peru.
Chile is the third leg of Xi's three-nation
Latin America tour, which has already taken him to Ecuador and Peru. In Peru,
Xi also attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders'
Meeting.
According to a written speech upon arrival,
Xi hailed Chile as an important country in Latin America, saying that Chile,
the first South American nation to have established diplomatic relationship
with the People's Republic of China, has made a string of "firsts" in
developing relations with China.
Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 46
years ago, the two sides have deepened their political mutual trust, and
nurtured a fruitful all-round cooperation and exchanges, said the Chinese
leader, adding that bilateral cooperation is facing an even broader prospect
for development.
"My visit this time is to strengthen
traditional friendship, deepen mutually-beneficial cooperation and boost common
development," he said, adding that he expects to join the Chilean leaders
during the trip to blueprint the future development of China-Chile ties.
"I believe that this visit will surely
promote China-Chile relations to a new level so that the peoples of the two
nations can enjoy more benefits," he said.
Chile established diplomatic ties with China
in 1970, the first country in South America to do so. Meanwhile, Chile was the
first Latin American country to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China,
and the first one in Latin America to acknowledge China's full market economy
status.
Bilateral trade volume has grown fourfold
since the FTA went into effect in 2006. China is now Chile's largest trading
partner, its largest export destination and the largest buyer of copper
products.
Currently, Chile is China's second largest
source of wine imports, with bottled wine exports to China up by 46 percent in
2015. The two countries have signed a number of quarantine agreements on
cherries, blueberries and avocados.
China has become an important market for
Chilean cherries, blueberries, apples, grapes and a variety of seafood such as
salmon. Chinese products with good quality and competitive prices are also
popular among Chilean consumers. For example, Chinese-made cars have taken up a
considerable share of the Chilean auto market.
China's first RMB clearing bank in Latin
America was opened in Chile in June this year, setting up a platform to upgrade
financial cooperation between China, Chile and the rest of Latin America.
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